1998 HONDA ACCORD VIN 1HGCG5647WA245964

The Honda Accord described here left the factory in 1998. Power reaches the wheels through an automatic gearbox. The petrol engine has four cylinders and produces 150 hp.

At the time of recording, the car had covered 94,374 miles. The instruments count in miles; the same distance in kilometres is about 1.6 times the figure. A car that has covered little distance for its age still ages: rubber seals, tyres and brake fluid deteriorate with time as well as use. The number on the clock proves little by itself; earlier figures logged at services and inspections are what make it believable. Service invoices and inspection reports each carry a mileage figure, and lined up in order they show whether the clock tells the truth.

No damage type appears in the source data; that shows what was entered, not what the car has been through. Water marks under the carpets, rust in unusual places or a panel in a slightly different shade would point to damage nobody ever entered.

The car is recorded as running and driving. A key was noted with the car. Condition notes are a snapshot: the car may have been worked on, stripped of parts or left standing since.

The car carries a salvage title. At some point in its life, the car was declared a total loss.

A car’s history is everything logged against it since it left the factory: registrations and owners, inspections, repairs and insurance claims. A car’s paperwork is scattered: the registry knows about owners, the workshop about repairs and the insurance company about claims. Much of a car’s past cannot be seen: a good body repair leaves no obvious mark, and neither do years of hard driving.

On a petrol engine, a rough idle, misfires or a warning light on the dashboard need looking into. The automatic gearbox should respond smoothly and without delay; jerks, slipping or hesitation on a test drive need investigating.

Stamped into the body and printed on a plate, the VIN is the one identifier that stays with a car through every owner, registration and repair. The VIN of this Honda Accord is 1HGCG5647WA245964. A VIN that differs between the documents and the car, or shows signs of tampering, is reason enough to walk away.

A VIN report shows what has been logged: earlier registrations, odometer figures, damage entries, branded titles and theft checks, wherever such data exists. A VIN check and a physical inspection answer different questions: the first says what happened to the car, the second what condition it is in now. The next step is to look up the history behind VIN 1HGCG5647WA245964.